Authenticity

I didn't want to become an assistant, to be honest with you. It's people that just see something in me…

Keshia Smith

Assistant Principal

And so we as educators, it might not necessarily be by a book… but it is where we did what we had to do and we figured it out. And I think that's the beauty of us, is we're going to figure it out.

In this episode, we sit down with Keshia Smith, an assistant principal from North Carolina whose journey into education was God-given, God-ordered and God-directed. As a preacher's kid, Keshia moved constantly and found herself in a system that was quick to label her before it understood her — diagnosed with ADHD long before anyone recognized she was academically gifted. It wasn't until her third grade teacher said "let's test her" that the full picture emerged. She blew it out. What carried her through wasn't just talent, but an incredible curiosity and a refusal to stop until she figured things out — a quality she brings to her work with students every single day.

My joy is seeing kids that I've touched succeed, and I have seen many kids.

Her road to the classroom was winding, but once she arrived, her impact was undeniable. Students who weren't even on her roster would linger in the hallways just to be near her space — and Keshia would pull them right in, email their teachers, and hold them to the same standard as everyone else. Her classroom was a place where kids felt seen, held accountable, and welcomed all at once. As she puts it, "I'm just Keshia" — no pedestals, no performance, just genuine care. That authenticity is ultimately what led her principal to spend four years convincing her to step into administration, and it remains the cornerstone of her legacy today.